


Slice of Dice

by Mocouu



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Fluff, Forbidden Love, M/M, Miu and Kokichi are good lads, The boys are gonna have a good snuggle, Wow look at Saihara become more confident, background amamatsu, background kaimaki, background tenmiko, cancelkaitomomota2020, platonic saimatsu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:40:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25515928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mocouu/pseuds/Mocouu
Summary: Shuichi Saihara is a detective that was working simple cases but is given the opportunity to do something more. He is very excited about this but also anxious. He has never had a hard case to solve but he is willing to take up the challenge
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 11
Kudos: 35





	1. Detective Saihara

Detective Saihara

Shuichi’s Pov:  
Shuichi woke up groggy from the day before. His huge eyebags showing as if he got two black eyes in a street fight, he sighed looking at the clock on his nightstand the time showing 6:17. Forcing himself out of the engulfing covers of his bed he got up to get ready for his off day. The staff at Future Foundation got the day off as they were renovating the office. Shuichi saw no point in the renovations as he was a workaholic and he just wanted to figure out a new case as soon as possible. The cases that Saihara got were mediocre to his standards, from being simple missing persons to spotting criminals on the run for the police to chase. Saihara hated feeling like he wasn’t useful enough for the Future Foundation. The main reason that he was on the top staff was because of his uncle being the great detective that he was.

Shuichi stared at himself in the mirror looking at his bed-head. He just stood there closing his eyes silently cursing himself for being an early riser as he didn’t get much sleep due to his frequent insomnia. Saihara quietly grabbed his toothbrush along with the paste, slightly grazing the bristles with the nozzle as the white and blue paste slid out with ease. He tiredly brought it to his mouth and brushed in a circle motion as he was looking around at his simple bathroom. Nothing in there stood out. It was quite organized as Saihara liked knowing exactly where each of his belongings were. He liked having his household in order as if he were ready for a visitor but with Saiharas social anxiety he hardly had anyone over. There were the occasional visits of his best friend Kaede Akamatsu and his co-worker Kyoko Kirigiri. He spit out the foam from his mouth and cleaned up the area he left the bathroom to go change.

Although it was Saiharas off day he still wanted to get ready for the day just in case if anything does happen which he doubted. He opened his dresser that rebounded with the scent of his favorite cologne. Saihara changed into a simple outfit of some nice pinstriped pants and a plain black shirt. His style was quite dark and often joked by his few close friends as “emo”. Shuichi walked out of his bedroom and straight to his kitchen where he would make a cup a plain black coffee. Saihara wasn't too fond of cream or sugar in his drink; he just liked it plain and strong. He grew to like it that way because of all of the long nights of him solving some of his simple cases. As simple as they were to solve, they were quite time consuming as he had to gather evidence and put the order of the case together. A small ring was heard from his coffee pot signaling to him that his long awaited drink was prepared for him. He slowly walked to his cabinet grabbing a mug and softly scraping the pot out of the machine and listening to the pouring of his coffee into his cup. 

Once he finished in the kitchen he took a seat on his couch and chose to use his day to relax as he was very tense. Shuichi closed his eyes as he felt the steam rise and settle on his face. It was calming to him, he didn't have many moments like this so for the time that he got, he was going to enjoy it. He pressed his soft lips against his mug slightly wincing as the hot liquid made contact with his skin. The bitter taste of his plain drink comforted him, with a warm breath he sighed and set his mug on the nearby coaster on the table. He scanned the room for the remote and once he spotted it he flicked on the television. There wasn't any show in particular that he was looking to watch, he just wanted a simple background sound. Shuichi heard his phone ringing from the other room. He stood up in a swift motion to see if this call was important, as he got to his room he saw that the call was from his uncle. Saiharas eyes shifted to the clock now reading 6:45. Confused at the early call Shuichi reluctantly answered the phone.

“Hello?” Shuichi hesitantly asked. “Shuichi! Sorry for such an early call but I would like to talk to you about some work things that will benefit you.” Shuichi seemed confused at the statement that was laid out before him. What would be so beneficial to him for his simple cases he wondered. “What is this about?” Saihara asked. “Well come tomorrow Shuichi we’ve decided to give you a bigger case than what you’ve been getting in the past. We’ve got information on a new uprising criminal group and I think that it’s about time that you can get something more real.” he said. Saihara was shocked, he never would have thought that he would hear those words in a million years. “Wow thank you so much I don’t know what to say!” Shuichi exclaimed as he hung up the phone and smiled to himself content with the news. He made his way back to the couch and sat down ready for the next day to come to know what he will be dealing with. Although he was excited he was also very anxious. Shuichi couldn't help but think that somehow he would mess up this case and get downgraded back to the simple cases that he had been working on. He quickly brushed those thoughts out of his head and tried to enjoy his off day.

Shuichi spent the majority of his day drinking coffee while watching his recorded shows and lazing around as he doesnt get opportunities like this often. His day flew by quickly, It was already 3:28 and he hadn't done anything. It was normal to him that nothing was happening. Saihara had quite the average life and with him living alone it was quiet. He found himself craving for the presence of a person in his house but then again he also adored the quiet. He liked not having to think over the sound of voices. Shuichi just enjoyed having his thoughts alone, but with that he decided that it wouldn't be too bad to get some fresh air with the amount of daylight that was left in the sky. The sun went down fairly early, around 7:52. This gave him a good four hours to be a little bit productive and to expend some energy so that he would hopefully get some sleep before going into the office the next morning. Shuichi grabbed his keys then slipped on his shoes then swiftly made an exit to the outside world.

Shuichi made his way down the stairs of his apartment complex. His uncle had offered him in the past to provide the payments for an actual house but Shuichi was very independent and wanted to do things himself. His room was quite big for it being an apartment, one bedroom that had a small staircase that led up to it. In his room there was a connected bathroom and a decent sized closet. His downstairs area was nice and simple; it had a pretty big kitchen. He enjoyed having a big kitchen as Saihara enjoyed cooking and he was satisfied with his skills. The living room area was nice as well, with his couch and a coat closet near the door to put his shoes. But Shuichi’s favorite part of his apartment was the big window that displayed the world for him. He loved looking out of it after a long day in the office, city lights calmed him when he was panicked or just feeling a little bit gloomy. He loved his apartment but he did find that it was just a bit too big for only him, along with his king sized bed. But Saihara figured that it's better to have more space for things rather than running out of space and having to find a new place. Another one of Shuichi’s favorite things about the apartment was that it’s on the top floor. He enjoyed this because he didn’t like hearing the sounds of walking above him or vacuums.

Shuichi was on his walk and he got to take in the sights of the world that he didn't get to see that often due to him being at work the majority of his days. He saw people walking their dogs and enjoying the cool evening. Shuichi decided to go to the park and sit at a bench to collect his thoughts. He liked to think to himself it always made him feel better. He was quite the anxious person so getting some fresh air and putting his thoughts in order was good for him. While he was out he found himself thinking about getting a pet but alas he had no idea how to care for one. He thought that maybe in the future he would commit to one though. Shuichi felt a small breeze of the night rolling in. He got up and looked toward the skyline and enjoyed the sight of the sunset. Saihara watched as the skys colors changed to beautiful hues of pink and orange. He decided to stay out for a little while longer and enjoy what was left of the day.

By the time Saihara was done with his walk it was already dark out. He was just so deep in thought the whole time that he didn't realize how many hours that he was gone. He opened his door to his room and immediately locked it. Shuichi was a paranoid person as much as he wanted to get the thrill of being a detective; there was always a lingering anxiety. He decided to make himself a small dinner as he skipped out on breakfast as well as lunch. His off day was strictly run on black coffee, he was awake because of the five cups but now that caffeine buzz was dying down and he was feeling a little drowsy. He lazly got out a pot from the cabinet and filled it with some tap water. Shuichi turned the burner on and placed the pot on. While he waited for the water to boil he grabbed some egg noodles and measured out enough to where he would feel full. When the water was finally ready he poured his measured noodles into the water, he went to grab his strainer and placed it into the sink for when the noodles were done. Shuichi was watching the boiling bubbles rise to the top of the pot, to prevent it from overflowing he gently blew on them causing it to go back down to its original state. He repeated this process for about seven minutes until they were ready. His hand reached for the handle and with a firm grip he walked them to the sink and strained the water from his noodles. With the noodles back in the pot he added a bit of butter and waited for it to melt then transferred them to his bowl.

After cleaning up his mess he grabbed a fork and sat at the table to enjoy his butter noodles. Saihara closed his eyes and took a deep breath and with a sigh his eyes fluttered open. After he finished his small dinner he picked up his dish and placed it into the dishwasher. Softly shutting the washer with a click he turned off the lights and closed the blinds and curtains to the main room windows. As he made his way to his room he grabbed some pajamas and placed them on his bed. Shuichi wanted to take a shower that night so that he could be up and ready to go to work in the morning. The detective then turned on the water, waiting for it to warm. Once it was to his liking he got undressed and stepped in letting the warm drops engulf him. He then grabbed his shampoo and lathered it into his deep raven blue hair. Shuichi was a fan of flannel smells; they were always such a comfort to him. He watched as the soap got watered down from his fingertips. His conditioner had no particular smell, he just wanted to let the smell from his shampoo linger.

As he finished his shower and after he dried off he went to get his clothes that he left on the bed. It was just a simple sleep outfit, a plain white shirt and some black sleep pants. Saihara looked at the clock on his nightstand and sighed as the time read 10:24. He went back to the bathroom and brushed out his hair and brushed his teeth as well. He felt such nostalgia from the morning when he did his routine. Shuichi’s routine was relative to the morning and the night. Once he was done he flicked off the bathroom light. Saihara turned to his phone and set an alarm for 5:30 so that he had enough time to get to the office and to get ready. With his alarm set he turned off his bedroom lights. He plopped right onto his bed allowing himself to get taken over by the blankets' warmth. With his eyes fluttering shut he couldn't help but wonder what his new case was going to be. He wondered if he was going to get an actual hard case to solve, or maybe he would be on a chase for a criminal. Whatever was coming his way the next morning he couldn't help but be excited. With those thoughts he quickly fell into a deep slumber awaiting the upcoming day.


	2. The D.I.C.E case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Shuichi learns more about his new case he couldn't help but feel like something was missing. He let his detective skills take over and him and Kyoko Kirigiri go and search for clues about this new criminal group.

The D.I.C.E case  
Shuichi’s Pov:  
Shuichi stood in front of the Future Foundation building quite excited for the day as he would get the news for his new case. Once he stepped into the building he was greeted by Kirumi Tojo at the front desk. They exchanged some small talk such as “How was your off day?” and “Have a good rest of your day”. After their talk Shuichi headed toward the elevator, he glanced at his watch and saw that he had just enough time to grab a cup of coffee right before his meeting about his new case. Saihara gently pushed the 2 button and watched it illuminate as the doors shut and he started his short departure up the building. Once he heard the elevator “ding” he swiftly made exit toward the break room. He opened the door and much to his satisfaction there was nobody in there or so he thought. Saihara walked to the coffee machine to see that a pot was already in the process of being made. His attention quickly darted across the room to where he saw the security guard Maki Harukawa walk into the room and his anxiety quickly died down.

“Ah- Saihara I didn’t expect anyone to be in here by the time I got back, It’s pretty early do you have a meeting soon?” She said quite startled to see someone in the break room at that moment.

“Yeah I’m getting promoted to a bigger case but I'm unsure of what it’s about, I just hope that it's not too easy.” He said eyeing the coffee pot.

Maki chuckled and asked him if he would like to share the pot to which he graciously accepted. Shuichi had met Maki due to the other security guard Kaito Momota. Shuichi and Kaito were good friends; they would always eat lunch together in the office and once Maki got hired into the Future Foundation, her and Kaito became friends instantly. A while after that he introduced her to him and then the three of them would always bond together. They eventually started working out together as the both of them were pretty strong. Shuichi himself was quite scrawny but with those workouts he got pretty toned within those months. After Shuichi and Maki said their goodbyes Shuichi made his way back to the elevator and went to the meeting rooms on the fifth floor. Once he made it to the room he was faced with his uncle and the unexpected face of his co-worker Kyoko Kirirgi.

“Shuichi!, just in time. As you may know I’m giving you a new case but this isn't some ordinary one so that’s why Kyoko is here as well.” said his uncle.

Shuichi was somewhat offended that his uncle thought that he needed help on this case but then again he was happy that it was Kyoko and not anyone else in the agency. Kyoko was a great detective; it was her ultimate talent after all. But she earned her title easily while Saihara got the same title from going behind his uncles back and solving a hard case on his own. A while after that the Future Foundation deemed Shuichi the ultimate detective as well, his uncle didn't want Saihara to do anymore “dangerous cases” so that's why he was downgraded. Kirigiri immediately saw the potential in Saihara and had him secretly help her with a few cases in the past. They would have long nights at Shuichi’s house and at Kyoko’s putting the evidence in order, of course Saihara didn't get credit for helping her as it was their secret. But with Saihara’s anxiety he was somewhat relieved that he didn't get too much recognition.

“So you two this case is about a new uprising criminal group. The information that we have on this group at the moment is very little. What we do know is that the group is called D.I.C.E. we don't know what it stands for at the moment but hopefully that won't be too hard to find out. The other thing that we do know is that this group consists of ten or possibly more members.” explained Shuichi’s uncle.  
Saihara glanced at Kirigiri and she seemed slightly annoyed by the information that they had received. He wondered why she looked like this. Was it because of such little information that was presented to them? Did she feel like this case was going to be too easy and a waste of her time? As Shuichi was wondering what she was thinking, his thoughts were cut off by her voice.

“Is that all we have on this case? Do we have any information on D.I.C.E’s motives? How do we know where they are going to strike next?” she questioned.

“As of now we don't have that information. You two will just have to be on the lookout.” He replied back handing Shuichi the case file that was to be shared with Kyoko.

Shuichi opened up the file to see it nearly empty. One picture, no sticky notes, and very little information. The picture that was in there was some graffiti of the D.I.C.E logo sprayed on the side of a wall. The logo was two side to side diamond shapes one of which had a clown looking face in it. This group seemed childish but then again dangerous to an extent. One of the information boxes was highlighted saying that the group was a bunch of thieves and that they were sly and stealthy in their heists. Saihara has never heard of this group before and now he finds out that they are good at stealing things. He couldn't help but wonder why. And what were they stealing and why was it so important to steal. Saihara felt that something was off about the information that they had received. There had to be some sort of thing to show where they were going to strike next but much to his dismay, there was nothing.

As Saihara and Kirigiri were dismissed, Shuichi's uncle told him to stay back. Shuichi was confused why he would want to talk more. Him and his uncle didn’t have the best relationship but it was enough to fool both of them that it was good. Saihara wasn’t fond of his uncle putting him down all the time. When Saihara got his ultimate title his uncle didn’t seem to like it and Shuichi never knew why. They had a good relationship when Shuichi was a kid, in fact, Shuichi looked up to him. He really wanted to be a detective just like his uncle because of his past and looking out for Saihara. Shuichi didn’t know what happened along the line to make them a little uncomfortable with each other but he still wanted to be nice.

“Shuichi, I wanted to tell you that I’m happy that you're getting a case but I do want to talk to you about something more serious.” he said in a cold tone.

Saihara just stared at him somewhat concerned for the next string of words about to come out of his mouth.

“I wanted to tell you that I'm resigning from my spot in the Future Foundation. I want to go into private investigations out of the country. The cases here in Tokyo have just been dull and I think that you see that too. The case I've given you was supposed to be mine, but I can't do these small cases anymore.” He said.

Shuichi was shocked. He never would have thought in a million years that he would have said that. A private investigator? But why. Then out of the country? But the words that stood out to Saihara the most was “But I can't do these small cases anymore.” referring to the new D.I.C.E case. Did he really think that this case was going to be that easy? It couldn't be. Saihara thought to himself he let his mind wonder about the case and how little information they had on it. This one had to be hard. Shuichi wouldn't let himself be put down by his uncle anymore. He looked back at him gathering back his pride and simply said that he understood. They then shook hands and Saihara made his way to his office where he closed the door with a sigh. His mind was spinning; he really didn't know what to think about that interaction. Saihara sat down in his chair and let it swivel around until he decided to open back up the file he got. He found himself staring at the picture of the D.I.C.E logo. Something about it seemed off to him but he didn't know what it was. It felt as if he was staring at this photo for hours but his thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Shuichi breathed in and said a hesitant “come in”. It was Kyoko.

“I see that you're looking at the new file.” she said.

“Ah, yeah.” Shuichi replied with his poor social skills.

Kyoko walked toward his desk and spun around the file so that it was facing her.

“What were you looking at Saihara?” she questioned.

“I just feel like there is something more to that picture. I mean they would have to want to leave some clues to become a big deal right? If they are just a small prank group then why is it a case at Future Foundation? We could have just left them for the police so why has it got to us, there just has to be something more to this.” Shuichi explained to her.

“Alright then let's go” she replied.

“H-Huh?” Shuichi was taken back a little bit.

“It says what street the picture was taken on so let's go check it out.” she said

“Are we even allowed to do that?” He questioned.

She giggled a little bit “Of course, I mean this is a real case after all Saihara.” she smiled at him.

Shuichi couldn't help but get really excited, he's never been able to go out and personally investigate a case. His uncle may have given him simple and easy cases but once Saihara had solved it his uncle always told him that he shouldn't get involved in cases outside of the office. He never would have thought that this would actually be happening. Shuichi stood up and followed Kyoko to her car where they drove about 30 minutes away where they ended up in front of a small park with a little playground. They searched for the logo for a few minutes then headed down a path that led them under a highway and that's when they saw it. It was right there in front of their eyes. The D.I.C.E logo. While Kyoko was inspecting the logo Shuichi averted his attention to the corner of the path where he saw a tiny piece of checkered cloth that seemed to be ripped off of something. He didn't know why he did this but he stuck it in his pocket. He thought that this may be something related to D.I.C.E. Then with that, he heard Kyoko ask him to check something out. Wanting to know more he walked up to her to see what she wanted to point out to him. Kyoko then pointed at the logo to show that there was a darker shade of writing in the logo.

“Paintings are pretty to look at, especially at 7pm on a Tuesday.” 

They both looked at each other in awe. Shuichi felt such adrenaline looking at those words. Finally he thought. A case that's going to be worth it. Kyoko began to write things down in their file. After looking around some more with that being the only piece of evidence that they discovered they headed back toward her car. They figured the paintings being talked about were the ones in the museum across the street from the park. When they arrived back at Future Foundation they went back to Saihara’s office to piece together what they had so far. 

“I couldn't help but realize how child-like that handwriting looked like.” stated Kyoko.

“Yeah, I wonder how old the members in this group are.” Shuichi replied.

“Alright, here's what we're going to do Saihara. As it is Monday we have only the rest of today and until around 6 pm tomorrow to get ready for this.” she said.

“H-Huh?, ready for what?” Saihara questioned.

“Well we are going to be in that museum in time for the heist to see if we can confront the criminal. I suggest that we make copies of the file so we can both bring them to our houses and prepare for this in our own ways. Then we will come here at 8:50 am to start comparing our findings.” she stated.

“A-Ah, Okay.” replied Shuichi.

After they made their copies and went their separate ways to go home Shuichi found himself feeling excited for the next day. This was all so new and exciting to him. Once he made it in his apartment and locked the door behind him he quickly ran to his room where at his desk there was a cork board on the wall. He reached in his pocket and grabbed the small piece of checkered cloth and pinned it under the word “The D.I.C.E case”. Shuichi loved to organize his cases on a board so this was perfect for him. It was nice and organized and displayed out right in front of him. After a while of working he looked at the time and decided that it was about time he went to bed. He was thankful that he was feeling tired because he wasn't really in the mood for insomnia to bite him in the back. Once he was all ready for bed Saihara caught himself staring at the piece of cloth and wondered who it belonged to. Shuichi was excited and ready to face the next day ahead of him. As he dozed off his dreams were full of that checkered pattern. It was engraved in his head and he was longing to know more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so many Ideas for the next chapter and It's already in the process of being written.


	3. The Phantom Theif

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi has his first encounter with the thief. Is he able to overcome his anxiety and confront the person behind the mask?

The Phantom Thief

Shuichi’s Pov:

As the morning light shimmered through the cracks in the curtains, it illuminated the raven tips of Saihara’s messy hair. He was surprisingly sound asleep but was rudely awakened by the sound of his alarm. His eyes slowly fluttered open as his hand hovered to the alarm to quiet the loud beeping. As he slowly got out of bed to get ready for the day he found himself staring at that scrap of checkered fabric again. Shuichi didn’t know what was so intriguing about it but he just couldn't seem to take his eyes off of it. Something about it made him want to meet the person that it belonged to. He hoped that his detective skills were qualified enough to figure out whom it even belonged to. Eventually Saihara completed his morning routine and was out the door. Somewhere along the line he had placed the cloth back in his pocket. Something about it drew him in, but what was it though? Maybe it was the fact that it was checkers and that's a fashion statement in itself. It was strange, he thought. Was checkers a thing just for D.I.C.E.? Whatever it was he was determined to find out.

The day seemed like it was never going to end. Full of meetings about Future Foundation plans and other things that didn’t seem to catch Saihara’s interest. He found himself messing with that stupid cloth from time to time. Shuichi just assumed that he was “attached” to it because it was a part of his first case as well as the thing that he found while investigating. Eventually after all of the meetings Shuichi met up with Kyoko in her office to compare their findings about the case. They didn’t have much to work with so the new information that they came up with were just leads to what they would be trying to steal at an art museum. It was strange to them that D.I.C.E would choose an art museum out of all places to have a heist. The paintings in that museum are quite big. How were they expecting to lug one of those out of there without anyone noticing? Whatever they were planning it must be well thought out.

“I think that we should sneak up on them when they least expect it. Since there are two of us in this case, I think that it would be best if we split up when we get to the museum so that maybe if one of us has an encounter with D.I.C.E then we could possibly get some information that could help our case.” Explained Kyoko.

“Would splitting up work?” Shuichi questioned.

“Yes, I believe that it would be most efficient for this case. The thief will most likely try to run so if each of us are at the two entrances one being at the bottom and the other on the roof, I think if one of us is stalling to keep them around longer then we could have a chance to possibly get a picture or new information.” She stated.

“What will happen if they come through the windows?” Shuichi asked.

“Well, we can bring reinforcements to surround the building so that we can catch them and then case closed.” Kyoko replied.

Were real cases really supposed to go this fast? That statement made Shuichi feel strange. They had just got this case the day before and Kyoko already wanted it to be over?

“What happens if they get away?” Shuichi asked hesitantly.

“To be honest with you Saihara I do think that tonight won’t be our first encounter with D.I.C.E. There is no way that this will be easy. I apologize for making it seem like this was going to be a fast case. We don’t know what they are capable of or if they have an elaborate plan.” She said.

Shuichi seemed relieved. It wouldn't have bothered him if the case was fast, but with all of the things that Kyoko was explaining he felt a burning anxiety in his chest. He normally got to work at his own pace and he didn't realize how far ahead in the future she was thinking. She really was the ultimate detective. She had planned every step of them showing up while Shuichi just stared at a cloth the whole night. That’s when he remembered that he didn't show it to Kyoko.  
“Ah- I apologize for bringing this up now but I found this at the investigation that we had yesterday.” Shuichi said as he pulled out the soft piece of checkered cloth.

As Kyoko examined the cloth she told Shuichi to hold on to it. They didn't even know if it was truly related to the case or not so she didn't want to make any leads until they were sure that it was D.I.C.E related or just a scrap. It somewhat disheartened Shuichi. He just wanted to feel useful for the case and she somewhat rejected what he thought was evidence. But Kyoko was right. Shuichi didn't know what he was thinking. So much for being the ultimate detective he thought. After discussing what they were planning to do if they came in contact with D.I.C.E they split up to continue around the office with the extra work that they had left for the day. Shuichi mindlessly walked to his friend Kaede Akamatsu’s office to talk to her but upon arrival he remembered she was on vacation for a piano tour. Kaede didn’t work cases, she instead just answered and transferred calls in the office. She worked on scheduling appointments for new arrivals and also arranged the meeting rooms for the employees. As she did work at Future Foundation Kaede also had a passion for the piano, she would travel from time to time to go play for an audience. Shuichi enjoyed her playing, it always calmed him when he was anxious. He recently has not gone to any shows because they weren't in the area and with the amount of work he had there just wasn't time.

The work day came to an end much to Shuichi’s satisfaction. He always wondered why days were long when there was something to look forward to. Any other day would have gone fast for him full of boring meetings and about ten cups of coffee. As he was packing up for the day he looked at the clock and realized that himself and Kyoko had about an hour to prepare for whatever thing that D.I.C.E was going to pull at the museum. Shuichi waited a bit for Kyoko but there was no sign of her anywhere so Shuichi being the workaholic that he was decided to turn on his laptop and find a table in the cafeteria to work a bit. He created a new google doc for the D.I.C.E case. He decided that music wouldn't be so bad to listen to so he could take his mind off of things. Shuichi popped in his headphones and scrolled through his music choices. He just decided to shuffle play his “Rock” folder. Shuichi was quite fond of songs with guitar and good singing. This was another one of those things that his friends would tease him about. They always said that his music taste contributed to his “emo” esque but Shuichi would always disagree saying that it wasn't “emo” at all. He just believed that he had a superior taste in music. His music was playing for a while and somewhere along the line he had turned it up really loud so that he could barely hear the clicking of his computer keys. About thirty minutes had gone by and he was so focused on his work that the tap at his shoulder made him jump a bit. Shuichi quickly turned off his music to see Kyoko right behind him.

“Heh, That was some loud music Saihara.” She chuckled.

“Ah- sorry I just didn't see you earlier so I figured that I could get some work done and I must have lost track of the time I didn’t mean for it to be too loud I jus-” She cut him off.

“No need to ramble about it don’t worry. We should get going though.” She stated.

“R-right, then let's get going.” Shuichi replied, still shaken up by her unexpected appearance.

Shuichi then packed up his things that were scattered on the table and looked at his watch. It read 6:34. If they were planning to make it to the museum in time they would have to take a few shortcuts to arrive quickly. They speed walked to Kyoko’s car and got on the road as quickly as they could. As Kyoko was focused on the road Shuichi couldn't help but wonder where she was when he was working in the cafeteria. Did she have a second case? Was she out investigating something different? Or was she just simply out of the building for a little bit? If that was the case where did she go? All of these questions were flooding his head. Kyoko began to take notice of Shuichi's constant looking at her and then looking away lost in his thoughts. She quickly realized what he could have been thinking and responded to the silent question.

“I was on a call that went over time if that’s what you were wondering about.” She flatly stated with her eyes focused on the road.

Shuichi just stared at her dumbfounded that she knew exactly what he was thinking. Without saying a word he just gave her a small nod. Kyoko saw this out of the corner of her eye but stayed silent. Shuichi looked out the window silently wishing that he wasn't too obvious with his thoughts. It was an awkward rest of the way there but Shuichi was relieved when he saw the museum in the distance. As they pulled into a spot they quickly walked in and talked about their plan briefly. With Kyoko on the bottom floor and Shuichi on the top they waited for the entrance of D.I.C.E. Shuichi looked at his watch and they had about five minutes until whatever was going to happen. There was somewhat of a burning anxiety rising in Shuichi’s chest. He had no idea of what was going to happen next. That's when he heard what sounded like gunshots in the distance. He heard Kyoko on his radio informing him that they were coming.

“Saihara stay where you are stationed. I'm going to go investigate those sounds.” Kyoko said through the radio.

Shuichi couldn't help but feel like something was off about those “gunshots” they just sounded way too hollow to be from a gun. Shuichi’s anxiety was growing and he hadn't heard anything from Kyoko for a few minutes so he was worried. He heard a slight pitter patter of someone running, along with a laugh that didn't sound natural. With that, the door that was on the other side of the room slammed open and he saw a small figure running with a painting in their arms. Shuichi’s reflexes were slow as he watched the person run towards the stairs that lead to the roof. The person running was short compared to Shuichi, they wore a white outfit with a cape and a hat. Shuichi’s radio came on.

“Saihara! They're a fast runner and I got stuck behind a small inconvenience.” Kyoko said, somewhat distressed.

It then hit Shuichi that this was the thief. They stopped in their tracks and looked back at Shuichi with their mask covered face. Then the laugh that Shuichi heard before came from the thief.

“Nishishi~ I didn’t know I was getting a detective to chase after me! Oh, how fun!” Said the thief as he began to run up the stairs.

Shuichi was shocked but he understood what was happening. He went to go chase after the thief within an instant. Thanks to his workouts with Kaito and Maki he was able to somewhat catch up to the thief. As they were running up the stairs they ended up making it to the roof. The thief made it there before Shuichi and once he made it up and through the door he saw the thief sitting on the edge of the building with the painting.

“Ah!, Detective Saihara finally made it!” The thief exclaimed.

“U-um how do you know my name?” Shuichi questioned a little out of breath.

“Well, My members have been spying on you and now we know all of your information and your deep secrets!” The thief replied.

Shuichi was taken back. He looked at the thief somewhat worried and concerned.

“Nishishi~ Don’t worry too much Saihara, that was just a lie! I just happened to hear your name on that handy dandy radio of yours.”

“I- Is that so?” Shuichi responded walking closer to the thief who didn't move from their position.

Shuichi began to examine the thief who seemed amused by his actions. The more he examined the thief the more that he noticed. He inferred from the thieves voice and figure that they were sure enough a man. Shuichi noticed that his hair was gravity defying as it stood up on the sides. The thief was significantly shorter, making Saihara wonder how old he was. What stood out the most to Shuichi was the checkered scarf that he was wearing and it happened to have a jagged rip at the end of it. It hit Shuichi that he had the other piece of it in his pocket. He was building up his courage to say something but his thoughts were soon interrupted by the thieves voice.

“Y’know Saihara if ya take a picture it’ll last longer.” The thief said in a sly tone.

This caused Shuichi’s face to flush a bit which he quickly brushed off. The thief took notice of this and got up from where he was sitting to approach Shuichi. He took a few steps forward as Shuichi took some back cautiously. He didn’t know what to expect but with the thief this close he attempted to take off his mask but that plan backfired miserably.

“Nishishi! I didn't know detectives could put up a fight! You're not boring at all Saihara!” Exclaimed the thief.

Soon after that happened both of them saw the blue and red lights of police cars.

“Awe man, this sucks. Don't worry detective Sai~har~a!” The thief sang as he backed up to stand on the ledge. “I'll think of an exciting game for us to play next time, so make sure you excite me too!” He said.

With that the thief grabbed the painting in a swift motion and jumped off of the roof. This startled Shuichi and he ran to the ledge to look over to see what could have happened. He peered over the ledge and saw the thief get into what looked to be the getaway car. Shuichi couldn't do anything at this point except for watch the car drive away into the moonlight. As he made his way back down the stairs he met up with Kyoko who was covered in confetti.

“Party poppers.” She flatly stated.

Shuichi then thought about the “gunshots” and how his deduction was correct. The sound was way too hollow to be a gun. He couldn't help but think about how childish the whole heist seemed. Party poppers? A strange choice for a criminal.

“Did you have an encounter with D.I.C.E?” Kyoko questioned.

“Yes, and it was strange to say the least.” Shuichi replied

They walked out of the museum somewhat defeated. The police that showed up were no help so they both didn't bother trying to talk to them. Once Shuichi arrived back at his apartment he immediately changed and warmed up a cup of coffee. He then grabbed his cup and went to go sit on his balcony. Shuichi looked at the piece of checkered cloth and then looked up at the moon.

“Who are you?” Saihara questioned to nobody as he was thinking about the thief.

With that he went back inside, placed his cup in the sink too tired to even wash it as he slumped in his bed and let the night take over his senses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a while especially with the interactions but I'm very happy with how it turned out.


	4. An Investigation Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi couldn't get the interaction of the previous night out of his head. He wanted to search for clues as Kyoko's whereabouts during work hours were unknown. He is met with an unexpected interaction on the roof with a interrogation meeting later that night.

An Investigation Start

Shuichi’s Pov:

Shuichi was back in the office looking at the case files with Kyoko. They had the information spread across the table. Kyoko was looking at the picture of the D.I.C.E logo from their first investigation while Shuichi was on his laptop writing about the features of the thief.  
He was thinking about the clothes that he saw the thief wearing. Shuichi only noticed a few details about the outfit that the thief wore. A white top hat with a checker pattern in the middle, The outfit consisted of just white and black with the very few pops of red and yellow on the mask that covered his face. The mask was clown looking and very childish. Shuichi couldn’t really tell what color the thief's hair was; he couldn't see in the dark of the night. It was definitely a darker color though. The thief wore a white cape with a checker pattern on the inside and there were small chains hanging off of the top. He had long black fingerless gloves and checker socks. The thief definitely had a thing for checkers, Shuichi thought.

What Shuichi couldn't stop thinking about was the interaction that he had with the thief. It was short but still long enough to make an impression on Shuichi. The way that the thief talked was like no one that Saihara had ever met before. The way the thief quickly learned his name and used it as if they had known each other for years. The thief’s childlike demeanor and the way that he tried to see what would make Shuichi nervous was a key detail to Saihara. And of course the lies that the thief spat out like it was second nature. That just made analyzing his personality way more difficult. Shuichi had no idea how the thief was so complex yet under that mask there was just a normal person. Shuichi was so lost in thought that he didn't realize that Kyoko was trying to get his attention.

“Saihara? Did your brain walk out on you?” She questioned him.

“A-ah my apologies, I was just thinking about the case.” Shuichi replied anxiously.

“Could you possibly tell me more about the interaction that you had with the thief? Maybe we can analyze him.” She said.

“That's what I’ve been trying to do this whole morning but he is just so complex.” Shuichi said.

“Ah- I see perhaps we should get more interaction time then we can possibly make a few leads about D.I.C.E.” Kyoko said.

That meant that Shuichi and Kyoko couldn't do anything with the small bits of information they had until they got a better understanding of the thief and his organization. They figured that they should go check the museum to see if they had left any clues to where D.I.C.E would strike next. But they couldn't do that until they had gone through the piles of work that they still had to complete for the day. Shuichi had a couple of meetings and he had promised Kaito and Maki that he would get lunch with them on his break. Kyoko had told him that she had to go out for a little bit. She told him with very little detail and Shuichi had a lot of questions but decided that it was best to stay silent. As interested as he was in what she was keeping a secret from him, he didn’t want to ask her such a personal question.

They went their separate ways for the day and Shuichi went to his meeting. It was a long one to say the least. It was about how the cases have been coming in slow so the Future Foundation would have to make a business plan and make different investments to try to expand the foundation. Shuichi could have cared less about the meeting. All he wanted to do was focus on his case and who the thief really was. All he could think about was analyzing the thief. The words that he said to Shuichi kept playing through his head. The way he told Saihara that he wasn't boring or the way that he sang his name when he was running away, it moved something in Shuichi but he didn’t really know what. When he thought about that interaction it somewhat confused Shuichi about how he himself acted during that. Why didn’t he say anything? Why did the thief’s words stick inside of his head? What Shuichi’s biggest question was why did these words stay with him? Wasn't it just the thief’s way of getting into Shuichi’s head? He didn't really know.

After the meeting Shuichi went to go look for Kyoko in her office but once he got there it was empty. Then he remembered her telling him that she had something to do and will meet with him at the end of the day. Shuichi was walking back to his office when he was struck with an idea, what if he went to investigate by himself? Was that wrong to do in a team project? He didn't really know but he couldn't wait and he wanted to answer his own questions. Shuichi gathered his pride and went to his office to grab his keys and left as quickly as he entered. He made his way to his car but he hesitated to open the door. His anxiety was keeping him back from doing investigations by himself. He decided that they were both different in solving things so Shuichi was going to figure it out his way. He quickly got into his car and drove off to the museum. Once he made it he walked past the police tape and made his way inside. It was quiet to say the least. The only sound was the click of Shuichi’s shoes hitting the hard floor. He made his way up the stairs to see that the door to the roof was creaked open. It was strange, he remembered that him and Kyoko closed up before they left. Shuichi took a deep and slowly made his way up the stairs and peeked through the crack in the door and saw a familiar figure sitting near the end of the roof playing some sort of card game. That person was the thief and little did Shuichi know that the thief knew very well that Shuichi was there. Shuichi was analyzing how he looked and what he did not notice the day prior. He saw that the thief had deep purple hair and it was truly mesmerizing. He was so lost in thought that the voice that was directed to him was startling.

“So are you just going to stand there and stare at me Saihara? I mean if you wanted to check me out I could have at least had a warning so I could dress for the occasion.” The thief said while setting down his cards and looking toward the door.

“A-Ah umm how did you-” Shuichi started to say but he was quickly cut off.

“I've been stalking you all day and I followed you here!” The thief exclaimed.

Shuichi started to walk toward him and simply said. “That's a lie isn't it?”

“Awe mannnn, you caught that one quick.” the thief replied.

Shuichi was watching the thief’s movements to see if he would try to do something but much to his surprise he was just sitting there like he was waiting for something. Shuichi was confused on what the thief seemed to be waiting for but his question was quickly answered.

“Do you wanna play?” the thief questioned.

“H-Huh?” Saihara replied somewhat flustered by the question. What could the thief mean what was he talking about? Shuichi’s mind was spinning.

“Cards Saihara. Do you want to play cards?” The thief said flatly.

“O-oh umm… sure?” Shuichi said silently cursing himself for stuttering.

Shuichi sat across from the thief looking up at his masked face somewhat anxious.

“What game is your favorite mister detective?” the thief asked playfully.  
“Umm- war?” Shuichi responded.

“Oo! How fun!” The thief exclaimed.

They began to play for some time. Shuichi didn't realize how much time had gone by because he was genuinely having a good time. He hadn't felt like this in a while so he felt really refreshed to be having a good time. Of course it was pretty ironic that the person he was supposed to be catching was showing him a good time. Shuichi had won every game that they played but he couldn't help but think that the thief was letting him win. While they were playing Shuichi didn't notice that his phone was blowing up with messages from Kyoko. He didn't realize that he was playing the thief’s game for about an hour at that point so he completely forgot about their scheduled meeting together.

“How are you so good at this detective!? You've won every single game! At least give me a chance of winning!” The thief said playfully.

“You're just letting me win.” Shuichi replied.

The thief gasped very over exaggerated. “You think that I'm going easy on you? How rude!” 

Shuichi chuckled in response and placed down the card for his turn.

“Ooh! How about if I win this game you tell me your first name detective Sai~har~a!” The thief sang.

Shuichi just blankly stared up at the thief and was about to tell him no when they both heard the loud slam of a car door. They both peered over the edge of the roof to see a person with long light purple hair. It was no other than Kyoko Kirigiri. She was walking toward the museum with purpose in every one of her steps.

“Awe man, It’s the boring detective.” The thief whined as he picked up the cards on the floor and tucked them away.

“This was fun mister detective but my time here has run out! Lets play again soon!” The thief said while getting up.

Shuichi was startled by the sudden movements of the thief leaving. But even more startled by Kyoko’s sudden appearance. Then Shuichi was shocked by his own words.

“H-How soon?” Saihara questioned.

The thief just looked back at him and snickered at the question. “Wow! Already asking me on a date this soon! I’m very flattered detective.”

“T-that’s,” Shuichi was flustered by that response but it was expected from the thief’s demeanor.

“No this was just an investigation.” He said.

“Hmm…. Sure.” The thief said while poking his cheek.

“Your office roof at 7:30.” He said while swiftly jumping off of the ledge.

Saihara peered over the edge to see him running away. Shuichi didn't know why but he kept making impulsive decisions.

“H-Hey!” Shuichi yelled to him.

The thief made an abrupt stop to look back up at the roof he had just jumped off of.

“It’s Shuichi!” Saihara yelled down to him.

The thief stood there and Shuichi could tell that he was probably smiling under his mask. The thief gave him quick little finger guns and then continued to run away.

Just as Shuichi was watching him turn the corner he heard the clicking of heels walking up the stairs. He mentaly prepared himself for the long scolding that Kyoko was going to give him. What was running through his head the most was what was he going to tell her? It’s not like he was just going to say “Oh hey Kyoko don’t mind me I was just investigating then played cards with the person we are supposed to be catching, you know the usual.” Shuichi had to come up with a quick but smart lie to at least make her believe him. He took a deep breath as he saw her enter the roof through the door.

“So this is where you were.” Kyoko said.

“Y-yeah I apologize for investigating without you.” Shuichi replied while silently wishing that he didn't stutter so much..

“No no don't worry about it, I kinda figured that this is where you were going to be.” Kyoko responded.

“H-how did you know?” Shuichi asked somewhat shocked that she knew.

“I didn't see you in your office so I asked Kirumi at the front desk if she had seen you.” she said.

Well of course someone saw him leave Shuichi thought. It's not like he could sneak out of the Future Foundation office without someone seeing him. That building is always full of people until it closes for the night at 6:45. But until then the building is packed with all of the workers doing their jobs. The strange thing about it is that when Kyoko leaves nobody ever sees her. And she always leaves for the same amount of time everyday and just always shows up out of nowhere. Kyoko is a whole mystery in itself Shuichi thought.

“Did you come here to look for some clues?” She questioned.

“Y-yeah but I didn't find anything that looked beneficial to the case.” This was new for Shuichi, he hardly ever lied. Especially to another detective.

“Same here.” She replied.

“What do you-.” He was cut off

“Where I've been. I wanted to get more pieces of evidence and that's why you're here. You’re doing the exact thing that I am. When we were given this case we had nothing and we still do so we need any little thing that we can get.” Kyoko said.

Shuichi felt like that explanation was missing something. The full truth was definitely not there but he didn't want to keep the questions going so he was just going to figure out the rest eventually.

“We should get going, the office will close in about an hour so we should go pack up.” Kyoko said, interrupting his thoughts.

“It's already that late?” Shuichi said somewhat shocked that he had lost track of the time.

Kyoko just chuckled in response as she turned away and started her descent down the stairs. Shuichi followed behind, still questioning her statement to him. There was no way that a great detective like her would go out of her way to do more things about the D.I.C.E case. There must have been something else that was taking her time away from this case, and Shuichi was unsure of what it was. If she had gotten a second case the office would have known about it. Everyone was aware if someone had one case or more. The Future Foundation wouldn't really hide things from the employees or the public… would it? Shuichi got into his car and began to drive back to the office with that question still in his head. Sure the Future Foundation was well known for the detectives and the different ultimate talents that were working there but other than that there was not that much information. He began to think about all of the things that half of the employees didn't know. Maybe they did hide things from them, but what was so important to keep hidden? Is that what Kyoko was doing? Nobody knew the answer to that question except for Kyoko herself. 

Shuichi pulled into a parking spot and looked for Kyoko’s car expecting it to be right behind him but much to his surprise there was no one. He sighed and walked toward the building and quickly walked to the elevator so he could avoid any social interaction. Once he got to his floor he saw other people packing up for the day and having some small talk before they leave for the day. Shuichi then saw Kaito and Maki talking and he wanted to turn around and walk the other way but as fate would have it, Kaito saw him and wanted to talk. Shuichi felt obligated to talk now so he walked over to join their conversation.

“Shuichi you need to break this argument for us.” Kaito said loudly.

“It’s not an argument, it’s a simple disagreement.” Maki said, looking annoyed.

“Ok, ok, ok, Tea or Coffee?” Kaito questioned.

“This is what you two are arguing about?” Shuichi said, looking at Kaito.

“I already know I'm gonna win this because you chose the wrong person to ask.” Maki said.

“Nope he’ll agree with m-.” Kaito was cut off.

“Coffee.” Shuichi flatly stated.

“HA! TOLD YA!” Maki cheered as she began to walk off.

Kaito followed behind her, being a sore loser. Shuichi chucked at this and walked to his office to get his things. He enjoyed things like that. He was happy that they did see him, it definitely was funny to see them get into those small arguments of this or that. It was a quick interaction but it was just enough for Shuichi to feel like he had been productive. He glanced at his watch and saw that the time was 6:40. There was only five minutes until the office hours were over. Shuichi began to gather his things and he figured that he could go home to set his things down until he had the interrogation with the thief at 7:30. He was walking down the stairs and saw that Kirumi at the desk was packing up. Shuichi just waved goodbye to her and went back inside of his car to drop off his things. Once he had made it back to his apartment he set down his things and laid down on his bed thinking about what he got himself into. This was technically part of his investigation so it should be fine. The thief agreed to it so what was he getting out of this? Yet another question that Saihara couldn't answer.

Shuichi had about twenty minutes to make it back to the office so he stood back up and was walking out of his room when he saw the piece of cloth from the thief’s scarf. He picked it up off of his desk and put it in his pocket. Shuichi also grabbed his hat that he always wore and put it back on his head. He felt like it secured him in safety, also because it hid his face. Shuichi made his way out the door and back into his car and drove back to the building. Once he got there he still had ten minutes until the designated meeting time so he wanted to be there early and made his way to the roof. When Shuichi got there he was somewhat relieved that he was the only one up there at the moment. He only had a few more minutes and that made Shuichi’s anxiety skyrocket. Was this a bad idea? Another question that was bothering Shuichi was that should he have told Kyoko about the meeting with the thief? Why did he lie to her earlier? Shuichi was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the thief jump to the roof and creep up behind Saihara.

“My, my detective, were you ignoring the fact that I made it here or did you really not notice.” the thief said while wrapping his arms around Shuichi.

Saihara was immediately taken out of his thoughts and was flustered by the thief’s actions.

“A-ah!” Shuichi exclaimed while he quickly escaped the thief’s grasp.

“Jeez lighten up Shuichi.” The thief stated.

“You do remember that this is an investigation right?” Shuichi said.

“M’yes.” He playfully replied.

“This is just for the interrogation part but I’m going to have to restrain you so that you don't try anything.” Shuichi said while grabbing the cuffs that he had on his belt.

“Wow! I didn’t know I got such an unpredictable detective! Don’t rough me up too much Saihara!” The thief said as he held out his hands toward Shuichi.  
“I- I’ll let you out as soon as I'm done questioning you.” Shuichi said, trying to ignore the last statement that came out of the thief’s mouth.

The thief mused as he watched Shuichi clumsily locked the cuffs. Shuichi on the other hand was completely frazzled by the thief being so compliant to Shuichi’s interrogation.

“Ok I'm just going to ask you a few questions then we can continue our game from earlier.” Shuichi stated.

The thief just nodded in response obviously excited about the game aspect of their meeting.

“U-Um what’s your name?” Shuichi asked.

“Wouldn't you like to know mister detective.” The thief responded.

Shuichi mentally slapped himself for asking a question that he knew that he wouldn't get an answer.

“Fine, let's start with a better question.” Shuichi said while pulling out the piece of cloth from his pocket.

“What’s with the checkers?” He flatly asked.

“Awe you keep a piece of me wherever you go? How sweet! Well if you must know, I think that it adds a little bit of funk to my organization.” The thief exclaimed.

“I- I see, and how many people are in this organization?” Shuichi asked.

“Ahhhh! You're a curious one! Well to be exact there are over 10,000 members!” The thief said.

Shuichi had a hard time believing that but he wasn't going to make a big deal about it. Shuichi was thinking about the next question that he would ask the thief when yet again he felt a pair of cuffed arms wrap around him.

“Shuichi~ This is really boring. Can we play now?” The thief whined into Shuichi’s ear.

This action sent a shiver down Shuichi’s spine. He also began to feel his face heat up. Shuichi had never had this sort of feeling before so he didn't know what it meant. He was lost in thought again as he felt the thief take his hat off of his head and place it on his own.  
Shuichi turned around as he heard the thief snicker at his own actions.

“Ooh! Now I can see my detective's beautiful face!” The thief said playfully, as he was practically jumping up and down.

Shuichi sighed in response as he walked up to the thief to unlock his hands. This interrogation didn't go as planned in Shuichis’s eyes but to the thief, he was having an absolute ball.

“Can I have my hat back now?” Shuichi questioned.

“Hmm… only if you win three games!” The thief exclaimed while pulling out cards from his sleeve. 

“What game?” Shuichi asked while sitting down and already accepting defeat.

“This time let's play crazy eights! You do know how to play that right. He questioned while sitting across from Saihara.

“Y-yeah.” Shuichi said.

A while after them playing the thief wanted to ask Shuichi some questions to see what he could learn about the detective.

“So, where's your other detective friend? Is she spying on us right now?” He asked.

“U-umm, She doesn't know.” Shuichi replied, he was shocked that he answered a question that he didn't need to.

“Oh? So I have a personal detective?” The thief mused.

“I guess you could say that.” Shuichi said as he placed down the winning card.

“Dang! You're so good at this Shuichi!” The thief said while laughing.

“Like last time, I could tell that you let me win.” Shuichi said.

“And that’s why you're a detective! You're so good at this!” The thief exclaimed while clapping.

Shuichi chuckled at the thief’s actions and glanced at his watch. He was surprised that they had been up on the roof for over an hour.

“Here’s your hat Shuichi! You won fair and square!” The thief said while placing it back on top of Saihara’s head.

Shuichi watched as the thief packed up his cards and stood on the ledge. 

“A-Ah umm did you want the ripped piece back so you could sew it back together?” Shuichi asked hesitantly.

The thief just looked back at the detective and lifted up his mask ever so slightly so that his lips were exposed. Shuichi watched intently as the thief began to take off his scarf and held it out to Shuichi.

“I don’t know how to sew and the other members sure as hell don’t know how to either, so… fix it for me Shuichi!” The thief smiled with an extended hand.

Shuichi was taken back by the offer but he accepted the item that was extended out to him.

“Have it ready for me the next time we play ok? And also lemme see your eyes more, they're pretty.” The thief said as he pulled back down his mask and jumped off of the ledge.

After seeing the thief jump off of ledges a couple of times, it still never failed to startle Saihara. He ran to the ledge to see the thief already turning the corner. He looked down at the scarf and smiled.

Maybe this interrogation wasn't such a flop after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer to write than expected but this chapter has the most character dialogue so far!


	5. A Reoccurring Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another point of view from the last chapter as a continuation to the interrogation.

A Reoccurring Thought

Kokichi’s POV:

Running away from the interrogation that Saihara had planned, the thief was ecstatic. He had never felt more alive. He just couldn't stop smiling from the interaction that he had with Shuichi. He jumped onto the nearest roof to check the time. It couldn’t be that late… could it. He settled down on the roof and pulled up his mask with the smile still plastered on his face but that smile soon faded when he read the numbers on the screen.

“Shit.” He mumbled and quickly stood up and jumped roof to roof to reach his destination.

He ran a little more and then entered a building that was far off from the center of the city. It was a tall car lot looking building that looked abandoned on the outside. Not many people used this lot anymore so it was a perfect place for D.I.C.E to hide. He walked over to the broken looking elevator and pulled open the other side to reveal a set of stairs. He turned around and closed the doors and moved to lock the door from the side he was on. He hesitantly walked down the stairs into the base to see that much to his relief no other members were in the main room. Or so he thought.

“Do you know what time it is?” asked a voice from behind him.

The thief turned to see one of the members with their back against the wall.

“Kokichi where in the world were you? Do you forget that we have a heist to plan? And where is your scarf?” They asked while walking toward him.

“I was planning! Just in my own way!” Kokichi argued back.

“You need to start taking things more seriously, you're the boss of this organization and you're out there doing god knows what!”

“I am being serious about this, I was talking to my detective!”

The two started to bicker for a while in the middle of the base while the other eight members were walking out of their rooms to see what all the yelling was about. This wasn't an odd occurrence for these two to argue. Kokichi, being the youngest of the group and the leader, had quite the ego and wanted to do things his way while the oldest member, Spades would always try to tell him what he was doing wrong. All of the D.I.C.E members had code names, most of them originated from different card games or the sign on the card itself. Kokichi just said that being called “boss” would be cool. He liked the feeling of having power. Him and all of the members had known each other since they were kids. They thought of their arguments as ones that siblings would do because they were all so close.

“Are you trying to get us caught? Seriously you were gone for like 3 hours what were you doing with that annoying detective?” Spades asked.

“Hey! Don’t talk bad about my detective! He just caught me and we were on this big chase and we had a beautiful moment looking into each other's eyes!” Kokichi exclaimed while holding his hands together and batting his eyes.

“Ugh stop with the lies around us and please tell us what actually happened. Seriously where is your scarf?”

“Ha! Wouldn't you like to know.” Kokichi said while walking to the fridge to grab a grape Fanta.

“You know I got a lot of information about Mr. Shuichi Saihara so if you guys could chill out and let me do my thing getting information on the Future Foundation this will all go smoothly! And maybe along the way I can get a nice hunk of detective!” Kokichi snickered while walking to his room and shutting the door.

All of the D.I.C.E members sighed simultaneously and looked at each other.

“I really hope that he wasn't serious about that last part.”

“He’s really unpredictable at times so we don't really know what he is planning.”

“I’m just worried about him, I mean what he is doing is surely to get us caught right?”

“I hope he knows what he’s doing.”

Kokichi heard them talking from his door and it made him somewhat upset. They just didn't understand he thought. Sure he had just really met Shuichi that day but something about the detective made Kokichi want to have more meetings with him. Shuichi wasn't like anyone that he had met before. Shuichi actually played Kokichi’s games and he also saw through his lies all of the time unlike D.I.C.E where they could only pick out the obvious lies. Shuichi on the other hand could analyze every word that Kokichi said. He was the ultimate detective afterall.

Kokichi got undressed from his whole thief get up and got into something more comfortable. Just some plain sweatpants, shirt and a hoodie. He just threw his outfit in the closet and walked out of his room. Sure the other members would have preferred that he hung up his things but Kokichi could have cared less. He walked out to see some of the members still in the main room and he assumed that the others were probably in their rooms. Once the other members saw him they immediately ran over with a bunch of questions.

“Umm… So boss? Did you actually see the detective for our case?” A member asked.

“I mean- yeah? Isn't that how this whole thing works?” Kokichi responded in a question. 

“Well maybe we should… you know… uhhh be more secretive about this thing instead of being face to face.”

“Are you questioning my way of doing this sort of thing? I was going to come out here and talk to you guys like normal but obviously that won't be happening tonight.” Kokichi replied angrily and walked back into his room and slammed the door and locked it behind him.

He heard the members walk to his door and they were all mumbling to each other but he didn't take the time to listen. He honestly could have cared less. It bothered him that they didn't trust him. Was it because he was a few years younger than them? He wouldn't really ever know the reason. Kokichi plopped down on his bed with his bunch of blankets with a big sigh. He didn't really know what to think about the whole group ganging up on him. It shouldn't have been such a big deal, he was just getting information in his own way. And if that meant messing around with the detective in a fun lighthearted way then so be it. Kokichi didn't think much about the teasing he had done to Shuichi. It didn't mean anything right? It was just for fun Kokichi thought. Nothing else, although, the thought of Saihara did have an affect on Kokichi but he couldn't really place what he was feeling. Adrenaline maybe? Who knew? All he did know was that he was exhausted and quickly curled under the blankets and fell into a deep sleep.

Shuichi’s Pov:

Saihara was walking down the stairs at the building to exit the rooftop from his “investigation” he couldn't help but feel excited. He just got very little information to the case but it was still exciting no matter how much information that he had received from the thief. Shuichi’s own deductions about the thief also helped in gaining information as well. He was content with what had happened even though he wished that he did not get nervous so easy. If only he was like Kirigiri in the sense that she could do a whole investigation with a blank face. She could be interrogating a serial killer and not even change her expression, Shuichi on the other hand was a nervous wreck when it came to that sort of thing. With the D.I.C.E case being his first real case it definitely showed when he was anxious.

Once Shuichi had finally made it to his car he let out a long sigh and turned the key. His ride back home was easy. There weren't many people on the road since his “investigation” was quite long. He walked to his room quickly as he was a tad bit tired from his rooftop meeting. He set his stuff down and immediately walked to his desk and looked at the last piece of the scarf that he had just received. He said he would fix it but then what? Give it back or use it as evidence? With the technology in the Future Foundation he could quickly do a DNA test and find out the thief’s identity. He would have to decide soon, definitely before work the next day but at the moment he was unsure. All he knew at the moment was that he was going to sew the scarf back together still not knowing if it was going to be returned or not. Shuichi walked to the cabinet in the main room to grab the things he needed. He didn't have a sewing machine so he would have to do it all by hand. That didn't bother him because Kirumi at the front desk insisted that Shuichi, Maki, Kaito, and Kaede all learned how. 

They all went to Kirumi’s house to learn one day and it was amusing to say the least. Shuichi’s most vivid memory from that was Kaito accidentally poking his fingers a lot and he eventually gave up quickly. On the other hand Shuichi, Maki, and Kaede picked up the skill somewhat quickly. Maki was the one that was definitely somewhat experienced even though she denied it. She definitely didn't look like one to know how to sew but he was sure that he had some past experience. Kaede learned fast with very few mistakes but she endured through the ones that were made. Shuichi was a little messy to the whole thing but he wanted to learn cause he figured that it could possibly be useful later and this was that moment.

He only had a few colors of thread and he was already almost out of black and white so he just grabbed the one that wasn't used that much and had the most thread. That happened to be the purple one. It was ironic, he thought. When Shuichi saw the thief in the daylight he saw that his hair was purple so this would fit nicely. With that Saihara got to work with one swift motion he tied the thread in the little hole of the needle.

“First try.” He whispered to himself.

While he was working he felt that something was missing. He decided to put on some music. Normally his taste in music was heavy to say the least but it was late and he didn't feel like that would match the mood. Kaede had recommended some piano songs as they were her favorite thing to listen to. Shuichi decided that he would give it a try one day and he actually enjoyed it. Kaede was a piano expert, she would tour around the world and play in grand halls. Shuichi had been to a few of them that were in town with Kaito and Maki and they were absolutely gorgeous. She really had a passion for the piano and they were all there to support her. But with her being out of town at the moment the office was quiet. She always played her favorites for them in the office and they eventually put a piano in the extra office that wasn't going to be used. She was ecstatic about this and often played her favorite “Clair De Lune” for them and it brought such a nice atmosphere to the office. She had made Shuichi a playlist of some songs for different moods so he picked the calm one for this moment. The song that played was “Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No. 1.” This was such a nice piece and Shuichi really enjoyed it.

Once Shuichi had finished with the sewing he was somewhat upset that you could see that it was stitched back together. Since it was checkered, he could see a little bit of the black overlap with the white. This was probably the best that it was going to get with his skill level. Shuichi then got changed into his sleep attire and went outside to look at the city from his balcony. He did this often as it calmed him especially at night. He read once that it calmed anxiety because of the cold fresh air and to him it worked. As much as Shuichi got frequent appearances of his anxiety he was also diagnosed with depression a while back. That didn't really come as great news to him but it made sense the more he thought about it. He was lucky that he didn’t have it as bad as other people in the world did but it was still something that he had to deal with in his everyday life. What brought light to his situation was that he had friends that support him and would always stay by his side no matter what. Knowing this definitely gave him something to look forward to future days.

The detective walked back into his apartment and locked the doors and layed down in his bed staring at the ceiling. He left the piano music on to keep the calm atmosphere in his room. The volume was low but still loud enough to enjoy the sound. Shuichi couldn't stop thinking about the interaction that he had that day and he found himself wondering if there would be more one on one interactions with the thief. There wouldn't be anymore if he were to run tests on the thief's scarf but… is that what he really wanted? Shuichi had finally gotten a real case so did he really want it to end that easy. Just one DNA test then the identity is found. The detective thought about this for a while, sure detectives were supposed to figure out cases as fast as they could with the right clues so what was stopping him. He couldn’t even answer that question. With a sigh Shuichi closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly. He was lucky that his insomnia didn't kick him in the ass that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oop that took a long time to finish. I did have more to the chapter that i was going to write but it wouldn't have made sense to the story line.


	6. A Strange Phenomenon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A whirlwind of a day is ahead of Shuichi as his alarm didn't go off on time like it usually would. His mail box filled to the brim of letters from an unknown sender and a visit from a familiar masked face. It was all just... strange.

_ There was a faint beeping sound coming from who knows where. It was dark and cold and there was no sign of light for miles. As the beeping got louder there was a familiar light brightening up the area. _ With that Shuichi woke up in an instant and he was somewhat startled by the strange dream. As the beeping was continuing to ring throughout his mind, he looked over to see that it was just his alarm. He reached out his hand to hit the off button to the sound and once it stopped he looked at the time expecting it to be the normal 6:45 but much to his surprise it was really 10.23 instead. His immediate thought was if he was still dreaming but the ring on his phone proved this thought otherwise. Shuichi lifted up his cellular device and looked at the caller ID to see that it was no other than Kyoko Kirigiri herself. Right before he answered the call he braced himself for the long scolding that he might be receiving from the other line. He swiped the answer button over and brought the phone up against his ear. He then answered with a hesitant hello and shut his eyes tight while waiting for a response. 

“Saihara, do you know what time it is?” She said, sounding quite impatient with that response. But that is the better response that he could have gotten. He preferred that response more than a yell across the phone.

“Kyoko I know that this is a terrible excuse but I’ll definitely be there in a few minutes and I’ll stay later than I should to get my hours back in.” Shuichi was insanely nervous for the next string of words that could possibly come out of her mouth, but much to his surprise it was not what he was expecting at all.

“Okay that works but really, you should get here as quickly as you can. You have quite the amount of mail in your box.” She replied, sounding a little bit concerned.

With that she hung up the phone and the words that stuck with Shuichi was her saying that he had a lot of mail. He hardly ever got any type mail in his work box. Her saying that there was some mail even in there was somewhat concerning to him. With that he quickly got out of bed and threw on his clothes and did a quick brush of the hair not caring if it was messy and he quickly got out of the door with all of his things. Shuichi rushed to his car and threw his stuff in the passenger seat and got in, buckled up, then turned the key. He was driving with a pit of anxiety in his stomach about what Kyoko could be talking about with the amount of mail that was in his inbox. On the way to the office it felt as if time was slowing down inside of the car. In all of Shuichi's years of doing detective work he had never been late to the job. The night before he didn’t even stay up that late. It was the exact opposite of a late exciting evening, It was calm and controlled. Who knew why that morning was any different from waking up.

As he rolled into his parking spot and got out of his car he saw Kyoko waiting for him at the front of the office with the look of impatience on her. Shuichi rushed over to her as quickly as he could to see what could possibly be going on. She saw him walking toward her and she began to walk to him to let out what was on her mind. 

“Shuichi you really should get inside.” She said while looking around.

“U-um okay, Is something wrong?” Shuichi asked back. This was a weird interaction and it felt as if from the moment that he woke up that something was off. It was the start of a strange day he could tell, but what was so strange about it? 

Kyoko just gave a glance back at him and continued to walk to wherever it was that she was dragging him to. They went up the stairs quickly and Shuichi figured that they were going to the mailroom to see what was going on. When they got there Kirigiri headed straight towards Saiharas box and she opened it to a pile of letters falling out of it. There were about more than seven of them in there. It was surprising to him to say the least. Saihara wasn't really one to have many letters to come through in his mailbox so seeing all of this was news to him. 

“Does It say who they were from?” He questions. It was quite the unusual occurrence but it was just another thing on his list to figure out what was going on. Starting with, Why was there hardly anyone in the office that day? It was quiet and awkward. Why was Kyoko looking so troubled at the front door? Did Saihara’s sleeping in cause him to miss something important?

“No, But I do have a sneaking suspicion that these might have something to do with the D.I.C.E case and I would like you to look through them first and then bring it up with me if I happen to be right. I would like to stick around longer but I have a meeting to attend.” She said while turning away to leave.

“B- But, There's like nobody in the office.” Shuichi replied. It was strange, It felt as if in that moment time had sprung back into play again as he heard the sounds of interaction from outside of the mailroom. Kyoko was giving him a look of concern before she turned away and opened the door to leave with a few words being left behind her.

“Go to sleep on time tonight Saihara.” With that the door shut leaving him in the room by himself. What was going on with him today? It felt as if he were on some sort of acid trip, or maybe his imagination was giving him some insight on his life. His dream before he had woken up all he could see was that stupid checker pattern. He was trying to think of what could have possibly been making him feel so off today. Then, the answer hit him in the head like a brick. He realized that he hadn't been taking his medicine for a while. This wasn't an odd occurrence for him as this had happened a few times. He looked over to his desk drawer and pulled out an orange bottle and popped the lid open but much to his dismay, it was empty. 

He let out an audible “Shit” as he then heard his door swing open with enthusiasm.

“Guess who’s back from her piano tour!” a voice yelled. Shuichi automatically knew whose voice that belonged to.

“Ah- how was it? You haven't been here for about a month.” Shuchi said tiredly while standing up to give his fullest greeting. Kaede, she was Shuichi’s closest friend. They had always been good friends since they had met. If you would have seen them together, the way they act was always close. They had been mistaken for them dating but anytime this was brought up they would both look at each other in disgust while letting out a loud “ew”. They were that type of best friends. Ones who were extremely close but had no interest in the other in a love type of way. With that, Kaede also had a boyfriend. Although, Shuichi had never seen him before so they would always joke that he was imaginary or something like that.

“Jeez what's with all of the mail?” She questioned while walking to his desk.

“I'm unsure, I haven't really had the time to open them as I came in late this morning.” He replied while holding up one of the letters closer so he could see it.

“Ha, there goes your perfect attendance!” Kaede said while laughing a little bit. Shuichi did happen to chuckle at that comment as well. She was quite the character he thought to himself.

“Could it be that little baby Saihara has a secret admirer.” She teased. 

“That's- no.” He quickly deflected. 

“Then open them silly! I wanna know if you're lying to me or not!” She replied back with obvious curiosity in her voice.

“I- um, I'll open them on my own time and tell you if it's something interesting.” 

“Hmm, Fine but we're going to go get lunch! Okay?” Kaede exclaimed while motioning for Shuichi to follow her.

Shuichi thought to himself if leaving would be a good idea but the more he thought about it he came to the conclusion that maybe eating something would help with how he was feeling. As he wouldn't have time to go home and take some medicine because he promised Kyoko that he would stay late to fill in the hours that he had missed in the morning. This could possibly help him with not feeling so out of it. Sure, there was a possibility that eating something wouldn't help at all but then again what if it did help a little bit.

“Yeah, lets go. So where are we going to eat?” Shuichi questioned as they began to walk to Kaede’s car.

“Nothing special, I was just thinking we could go to a deli or something like that.” She replied while unlocking the car doors. They got in and began to buckle up and left the complex. They got to where they wanted to go but not without blasting music in the car and singing. They usually did these sorts of things when Kaede wasn't out of the office for piano recitals. As she was just a receptionist she didn't need to be there all the time like Shuichi did. Her recitals would usually be sold out within moments. She was the Ultimate Pianist after all. She would even get calls to participate in the biggest symphonies out of the country. Although, she would always decline. Kaede had told Shuichi that she wanted to create her very own symphony and have her own piano school. It was an amazing goal to look forward to. She was very ambitious about this as it was her life long dream. She had also mentioned to Shuichi that she wanted to travel around the world first before settling down to pursue this dream.

“So did I miss anything while I was out?” Kaede asked. It didn't surprise Shuichi that she had no idea of things going on in the workplace because when she was out for concerts that is all she would focus on.

“Well, Kyoko and I started this new case and she eventually gave it all to me-”

“NO WAY! REALLY!?” Kaede yelled.

“A-ah, Kaede please, inside voice” Shuichi said while looking at the people around them as they were walking to their seats for lunch.

“I know I know but Shuichi, this is huge! She finally gave a case to you!”

“Well not entirely, we were sharing this case but she said that she has something else to focus on.”

“Hmm, She sure is a strange one. But think positively about this! It’s a great opportunity for you!  **_If there's ever an opportunity you should take it!_ ** So, what is this case about?” Kaede asked while she went to take a sip of her drink.

“Well there's this group that is stealing paintings and such, As of now I only know that they steal paintings because their first hit was at an art museum.”

“Woah, That sounds like a big deal. Do you have any idea who is doing this?”

“Well umm, I talked to the leader of their group briefly and-”

“Woah, woah, woah, wait a hot second! You talked to this person? Did you catch them? Are they scary? Did they have weapons? Did-”

“Haha, Kaede I know it's exciting but one question at a time please.” Shucihi cut her off from the millions of questions that were filling her head. Shuichi knew this would happen but he wasn't expecting all of the questions back to back without a break. She was always so excited about hearing what Shuichi had to say because he was more into the case side of Future Foundation rather than receiving calls and such as she did. 

“Well I can't really say too much about it but I can say that I caught the leader of the group very briefly.”

“Huh? Briefly?” She questioned.

“Well, He got away.” Shuichi responded remembering their “game”.

“He? So is it a group of men?”

“I actually don't know that at the moment.” Shuichi replied.

“Hmm, Well I'm sure that you’ll be able to figure it out! You are the Ultimate Detective!” She said with a big promising smile. Kaede always did that. She makes people happy.

At this point after they ate it was around 2:30 and Shuichi really had to get back to the office to do some work. Kaede dropped him off as she had other errands to run that day. But before Shuichi had closed the door, Kaede yelled to him. “Make sure to call me about the love letters on your desk!” Of course Shuichi tried to defend himself but before he could say anything she drove away.

With a long sigh, Saihara began to walk back into the building. He was definitely feeling much better from the morning. Less tired and more refreshed. Although, it was going to be a long night as he did have to stay to make up the hours he had been sleeping in. As the realization hit him he then thought about how late it would be until he would get home. Upon thinking about this he realized that he would probably have to stay until around midnight that night. “ _ At least it’s Friday”  _ Shuichi thought to himself. The more he thought about it he should probably prepare for the long night as it was now almost 3. Before Shuichi walked into the building he decided to go to his own car first to get things to make sure that he wouldn’t sleep while trying to work. 

Once he got to his apartment he looked around for things that would be useful to bring with him. He looked at the clock to confirm that his lunch break wasn’t over, Saihara only had around 15 minutes so he would have to pack things quickly. While he was at it he also remembered to take some medicine. Wow, he thought. “I need to start remembering to take these.” After that he had packed some of his own coffee pods as they were stronger than the ones in the office. He had also packed some things to keep himself entertained as he was going to be the only one in the office besides the security. But after they leave, the building will be quiet and lonely.

Usually the security is in the building until around 8:45, but then after that everyone should be out of the office. Since Kaito and Maki were security guards, Shuichi had a guarantee that he could stay in late to make up his hours. Although, he would probably have to lock the front door on his way out. With that, Shuichi took one last look around his apartment to see if he had missed anything. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the thief’s checkered scarf that he had sewn the previous night. Seeing that did make him wonder if he would be seeing the thief anytime soon and if there were going to be any new heists that D.I.C.E. had planned. Sure, their last heist had happened on Tuesday but it definitely made Saihara wonder if they had some type of schedule that they would base their heists on. All of this made him wonder what their motive to steal things was and if there truly was around 10,000 members in their organization. It sounded completely absurd that there would be an organization that big and Future Foundation is just hearing about it now. That along with the fact that there would most likely be more heists if there were that many members. 

Something within Shuichi was telling him that he should take the thief's scarf with him on the late night. Maybe it was his gut feeling telling him to do so or maybe it was  _ Good Intuition. _ With that final thought, He grabbed it and stuffed it into his backpack and got ready to head back to the office. He locked his apartment and made the descent down the stairs to his car where he started it up and drove away heading straight toward hours of work. Once he parked his car and walked into the office he passed through the conference hall for a quick short- cut to his office but it was quite peculiar to him that all of the conference rooms were in use at that moment. It was quite the strange phenomenon but he quickly wiped that thought out of his head and walked to the set of stairs at the end of the hallway. He walked up a few floors to reach the 16th floor door. Normally, he would take the elevator up but he did want to stall a little bit so that he can expend some energy so that he can settle down and sit in his uncomfortable office chair for multiple hours to work on a few small cases and possibly get some work on the D.I.C.E. case. That case was just so intriguing to Saihara. It's like nothing that he’s ever seen. But now that he is becoming a real detective he has one big case and a few small ones to solve here and there. 

He looked at the clock that just ticked 5. With a long sigh he began to get to work. He was cleaning up a runaway case that Kyoko had started but with her mysterious entrances and exits, she had stated to him that “if you have the time, could you please finnish this quick little case for me?” He of course accepted that offer as he wanted a way to keep his mind off of the thief and that entire case. As much as he loved the thrill of that case, sometimes the pressure of getting so close to the thief and him getting away stressed Saihara out. That entire case seemed to make Shuichi’s mind spin. The thief was slick to say the least, he always seemed to find his way out of situations. Shuichi was definitely determined to un-mask the thief and figure out his true identity. 

The night was passing by slowly, it felt as if the clock would stop then start again. Only an hour had passed and there was still about 45 min until people in the office would be leaving for the night while Shuichi stayed back. He sighed wishing that there was something to make the time go by faster. Work, work, work. That was all that was running through Shuichi’s head. This case was somewhat more difficult than he would have thought it would be. The whole question about this case is “what was the motive for this person to run away?” From the information that was given about the person, it didn't seem like their home life was something to run away from. It did make Shuichi wonder what else Kyoko had to do with her time to hand over one of her cases to him. It was definitely strange but Kyoko herself was a little strange. So secretive about what she was doing at all times but what was Shuichi expecting? Ever since he had started at the agency she had always been like that. It was nothing new but working with her up-close made him take notice of the things that she would do and the times she would disappear for a couple of hours. It was just something she did and nobody would tell her that she couldn't. Kyoko was like her own boss, she would make up her own rules and others wouldn't question anything that she was doing. She was the ultimate detective after all. As Shuichi had the same ultimate title, he didn't feel too confident in his abilities. He felt that there was always going to be someone better than him and in his mind, that was Kyoko. She was always so diligent with her work and she could solve a case very easily. She could probably solve the D.I.C.E case but Shuichi knew that she wanted him to solve this one for himself and that’s why she left the case to work on something secret. As Shuichi was thankful for this he also wanted to know what she was working on. 

It was finally around the time that the other workers in the building would pack up for the day and get ready to go home. Shuichi was somewhat happy that he would be the last one to leave the building. He wasn't the biggest fan of the noise all day but it was just one of those things that he couldn't change. He went back to focus on work and didn't realize how long he was focused on. What snapped him out of it was the loud opening of his door to greet Kaito and Maki welcoming themselves inside. 

“SHUICHI DUDE WE NEED-”

“Kaito, shut your mouth or I’ll shut it for you.” Maki warned. “Sorry Shuichi, you know how he can be.” 

“Heh, It's fine. What did you guys need? You two still have like an hour or two until you get to leave.”

“Well we were wondering about you. How come you're still here?” Maki asked.

“Long story but to sum it up I slept in.” Shuichi said.

“Woah, that's really unlike you. Are you okay?” Kaito asked with concern.

“No no it’s fine I promise.” Shuichi replied. He didn't really want to bring up that he hadn't been taking his medicine for the past couple of days. Of course he trusted the two of them but he just didn't feel comfortable telling them things like that. He really only felt that way toward Kaede. It made the most sense to him as he had known her longer than them. He would tell them but with Kaito being super loud at the moment that was somewhat risky. 

“Well okay, we were just going to ask if you wanted to train after we got off but it seems that you’ll be staying later than anticipated so maybe some other time.” Maki said.

“Ah- I see. I’m sorry guys, maybe next time.” Shuichi replied.

“It’s fine. Sorry for Kaito’s disturbance.”

“H-Hey! You barged in too!” He yelled in defense while walking out with Maki.

Shuichi sighed as he heard the door shut. It was never boring when those two were around. They always found ways to entertain whenever they were all together. Even when they were all training together they would always find a way to make them all have fun together. At this point Shuichi was basically stalling from doing any work. He just wasn't feeling it today. 

Trying to refrain from doing work was different for him. Shuichi was usually a workaholic. Today he was just tired and wanting to go home. There was about an hour until Kaito and Maki left for the night. Then he would really be all alone. 

Bringing his focus back to the runaway case he immediately began to realize some of the pieces that he had been missing. Although the motive for the runaway was still unclear. That is what was keeping him from progressing to find the truth. This shouldn't have been as hard as it was turning out to be. “Jeez so much for being an ultimate detective.” Shuichi thought to himself. He was reading over the information that he had so far. 

Runaway happened at approximately 3:47 am. No recorded events of violence within the house. Parents say that they lived happily with absolutely no slip-ups within their reputation. The family was friendly around the whole neighborhood and they were well known around their community.

Shuichi didn't understand. It didn't seem like there was anything to run away from. The case had little information and it was quite confusing. Caught up in his own thoughts, Shuichi didn't even hear the door open. He was mumbling nonsense to himself until he saw a pair of gloved hands slam on his desk.

He looked up startled , expecting Kyoko because she was the only one that he knew who always wore gloves but much to his surprise it was someone completely different.

“A-Ah! How did you get in here!?”

“Y’know I don’t think that's such a proper way to say, Heyyyyy I totallllly missed seeing you!”

Shuichi tried to calm himself down trying to see if he was awake and this wasn't a dream. He looked back up to see the thief still standing there staring right back at him. He was even in the whole getup that Shuichi had always seen him in and that included sealing his identity with the mask that covered his face. 

“I- Just how did you get past security?” Shuichi asked, still shocked at what was happening.

“You're just filled with boring questions today now aren't you? Well if you must know the door on the roof was unlocked so I waltzed right in and now I'm being gifted with the presence of you mister detective!” He replied.

“You really shouldn't be here you know. What did you come here for.” Shuichi stated clearly.

“Awe, no need to be so cold to me Shu! I just came to see if you opened the letters I sent you as I did spend a long time writing them all. And it was a bitch to figure out how to get them directly to your mailbox y’know? Then you don’t reply to me!? I plan to cry a lot-”

With that the thief began to spray out tears like it was nothing. They looked like waterfalls pouring out each side of his mask. 

Shuichi was already taken back by the slip of a nickname that the thief called him and how he’s standing in his office crying a river. 

“Wait, stop! I just haven't had time to read them yet I swear! I woke up late and I was busy all day and I just haven't had time but I swear I’ll read the-” He was cut off by a laugh.

“Wow! You actually fell for it! You're so fun to play around with!” The thief said while laughing loudly.

“H-huh, But you were just crying.”

“We all have our special talents emo boy! So I figured I’d show mine off to you!”

Shuichi was just so confused about how whoever was behind the mask was able to manipulate their emotions so easily. The second question running through his head is if the thief was in this position where Shuichi could easily capture him, should he do it? It couldn't be that easy and he could possibly get more information. He thought back to his lunch with Kaede.

“ _ If there's ever an opportunity you should take it!” _

Taking Kaede’s advice, Shuichi went for it. He figured that he would play into the thief’s game. That could possibly get him more information.

“So your talent is crying?” Shuichi asked.

“Very funny mister detective. It could very well be my talent, Although that could be a lie. I may or may not even be so talented at all.”

“But you said-”

“Hey! Don't put words in my mouth! The only thing that I would allow in there is your-”

“T-That’s enough.” Shuichi cut him off, knowing exactly where that was gonna go.

“Haha! Just kiddinggggggg! You're so funny Shuichi! The thief giggled while walking to the side of the desk where Shuichi was sitting. “So, whatcha working on?”

“That’s none of your concern.” he retorted.

“Aww c'mon! Lemme see! I won’t ask again if you’ll let me see!” The thief pleaded.

With a sigh, Shuichi remembered what he was trying to do. Play into his game.

“Fine, it’s just a runaway case that I’m cleaning up. Nothing special.” Shuichi replied while looking back at the thief.

“Can I see?” The thief questioned.

“A-ah may I ask why?” This confused Shuichi. Usually when the thief talked there was something within his voice that showed that he was playing around but this time, it was different. It was a genuine question.”

“I wanna see if I can help! It seems like you're stuck!” He replied happily.

“Umm, sure.” Shuichi said while handing the thief the case file. It was weird to think that the person that he was supposed to catch was now helping him with a case. This whole day had just been strange for Shuichi so it wasn’t like it was out of the blue for something like this to happen.

“Do you know why?” 

Shuichi was snapped out of his thoughts by this question. “Why what?”

“Well the person who ran had to have a reason to, you just don’t run away.” The thief replied to him.

“That’s just what I’m trying to find out, I’m unsure of the motive. By reading the family’s description it seems like they were living happily.”

“That’s total BS Shu. This description is just wayyyy to picture perfect. I say you put them on a lie detector!”

Shuichi laughed at this. If I’m putting anyone on a lie detector that would be you, Shuichi thought. 

“I mean, cmonnnnnnn you can’t be serious! No slip-ups in their reputation. I can smell the lies from miles away!” 

“Are you good at spotting lies?” Shuichi asked.

“Pfft! HA! Well duh! Y’know, you can’t lie to a liar. If you do that it’s like completely useless! Did you know that you’re the only person that I’ve ever met to actually catch my lies! It’s very impressive mister detective. But, let me give you some advice.  _ If you want to catch a liar, you have to think like a liar.”  _ The thief explained.

“Think like a liar huh?” The more Shuichi thought about it the more that it made sense. He might have to look more into the aspect of lies to solve a case. That was something that he had never thought about before.

“With that I think you’ll be able to solve this case in no time!” The thief exclaimed while handing the case file back to Shuichi. “I mean, you're the ultimate detective after all! This should be like a piece of cake to you riiiight?”

“Well, I guess you could say that.” Shuichi thought for a moment. Was he really going to open up about how he feels about his talent to a criminal. I mean- it wouldn't hurt to get an outside opinion on the matter, Shuichi thought. “I guess I’m just not that confident with my abilities.”

Shuichi could tell that the thief was staring at him blankly. Even though he couldn't see his face, he could just tell by his body language that he was processing what Shuichi had just said.

After a few moments the thief spoke up. “That’s lame. I mean you got your talent by doing something crazy to gain it right? So why aren't you confident in it? Not everyone in this world gains talent and now here you are saying that you don't think that you're good enough for what you earned by yourself. Saihara, _ people like us _ are born into this world already set for a path to succeed. And you're probably thinking that your other detective friend is better than you right? Really, you shouldn't compare yourself to others. It's not healthy. So be happy with your talent! Y’know, not every ultimate detective gets graced by my presence! That is reserved for my case worker and that happens to be you!”

Shuichi smiled at this. Sure he has had other people tell him things along the lines of that he should be proud of his talent but never to that extent. Although, he did notice a slip-up that the thief used in his words.

“I thought you said you didn't have a talent.” Shuichi stated.

“Yep! I don't! I’m just plain, normal, and bor-”

“You're lying, aren't you. You just said people like us. So on the topic of talent that means you have one right?”

“Jeez! See! This is what I'm talking about Shuichi! You're such a talented detective! Y’know, it warms my heart that you pay such close attention to my words that you could catch a little slip of the tongue like that!” 

“W-wait! You did that on purpose!?”

The thief began to giggle a little bit. “Not necessarily buuuut, It was quite the confidence boost for you don’t you think?”

Shuichi laughed a little at that as well. It actually did make him feel confident that he could spot a little string of words like that so easily. He looked at the clock and noticed that it was about time that security would be leaving. That's when it hit him. Kaito and Maki couldn't lock up with him still in the building which meant that he would have to lock the front door on his way out. With that, he heard a knock on his door and knew exactly who was on the other side.

“A-ah just a minute!” Shuichi yelled out.

In a panic he grabbed the thief by his hand and pushed him under his desk where he couldn't be seen from the other side. The D.I.C.E case was his to handle and he didn't want Kaito or Maki to see that the thief had practically invited himself in the building. “Just be quiet for a minute, okay?” he whispered down under the desk.

Shuichi heard a little snicker in response and like that Kaito opened the door.

“Hey! My trusty sidekick!” Kaito said while walking in the office. Shuichi wasn't too fond of being deemed his “Sidekick” but he definitely didn't want to speak up about it either. 

“Are you guys heading out for the night?” Shuichi questioned trying his best to not seem so nervous about the situation that he was in.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go take Maki stargazing as a surprise. I hope that will get me points in her book.”

“O-oh, so are you going to ask her out or something?”

“Possibly. It’s just one of those things where you have to wait for the right moment.”

Shuichi somewhat understood what he meant. He had only been in about two previous relationships and both of them didn't last that long. The past relationships were so bad that he still didn't even have a kiss with anyone yet. At this point, Shuichi wanted to focus on helping Kaito with the whole Maki thing. Even if he didnt give the best advice for this type of thing, he still wanted to help as much as he could.

“I see, well I hope that you guys have a fun time-” Shuichi said while he felt the thief pulling at his shoe laces.

“Thank you, I do have one request for you.” Kaito said while pulling out a key from his pocket. “Could you lock the front door on your way out? I would normally do it but since you're here making up time I wanted to see if you could.”

“Of course.” Shuichi replied while catching the key that was thrown to him.

“Alright, we’ll probably have to leave soon so I'll see you tomorrow Shuichi.” Kaito said while turning to walk out the door. 

“Umm Kaito, Your shoes are untied.” Shuichi said knowing very well that there was a small opening at the bottom of his desk that the thief could easily stick his tiny hands through.

“Haha! Thanks!” He said while stopping to tie them then making his way out of the room closing the door on his way.

Shuichi sighed and looked down under the desk. “What if he saw your hand peeking out for your little prank.”

“Welllll he didn't and it would have been really funny if he stepped on it and took a tumble!”

Shuichi rolled his eyes as he rolled back in his chair to let the thief be able to get himself out from under the desk. He watched him crawl out and stand up to do some jazz hands.

“Ta Da! Did ya miss me? Well what’s next on the agenda mister detective?” 

“What do you mean?” Shuichi was confused. Was he supposed to have something planned for an unexpected meeting?

“OOH! Quick question? Do you happen to have any snacks? I’m soooooo hungry. If you could spare just a crumb that would make me very happy!” The thief said while clapping his hands.

“I- Umm not on me no but I guess we could walk to the vending machine, I do want more coffee anyway.” Shuichi suggested.

“Aww! How very kind of you!”

“Let's just make it quick okay? I don’t want you wandering around the building by yourself.”

“Bold of you to assume that I’d leave your side mister detective.” 

Shuichi tried to ignore that last comment as he went to walk toward the door while keeping watch on the thief. As they made their way down the hall he just watched the thief skip around like he didn’t just walk into the Future Foundation building. He wouldn’t say this out loud but he thought that the thief was acting kinda cute at that moment. As quickly as the thought came into his head he pushed it out, he couldn’t be thinking like that. Sure, the thief nonstop flirts with him but Shuichi knew that it was to throw his guard down and well, it was working. He couldn't let himself get caught up in the thief’s endless teasing. Shuichi was just going to solve this case in his own way, nothing else.

“Turn here” Shuichi said to him as they approached the hall to the break room.

“Ooo! I get to go into the break room! How fun!”

Shuichi sighed while walking up to unlock the door. “Just don’t break anything, please?”

“I can’t promise anything but I'll be suuuuuper careful.”

They walked in together and Shuichi immediately walked over to the coffee machine while watching the thief run over to the vending machine like there was no tomorrow. Shuichi then looked away to work on making his drink. He opened the cabinets to reveal all of the different coffee grounds that he could choose from. Naturally, he went with plain black coffee. Something about it was just so good to him, he just grew to love the bitter taste of it. Sure he had brought some of his own grounds from home but he figured that he wouldn't waste his good coffee if he was going to only stay a little bit past midnight. While waiting for it to brew Shuichi felt a small tug on his sleeve. He turned to be greeted by the masked face of the thief.

“A-ah, Did you need something?” He asked, confused by how he had approached him.

“Well, I thought that the snacks would be out in the open, not all locked up asking for money that I don't have sooooooo I’m ready to go when you're ready!” He said while walking to go sit at the small table that was in the room.

That just made Shuichi feel bad. He just seemed to be kinda hungry at the moment. Shuichi reached into his pocket to reach his wallet and pulled out a five to give to him. He walked over to the table and held out the bill to him.

“If you weren't hungry you wouldn't have asked to get a snack so go get a few things.”

“Aww! How kind of you Mr. Saihara!” He exclaimed while snatching the bill handed out to him and immediately running to the machine again. Shuichi just smiled at this. With that he heard the ding of the coffee machine finishing it’s brew. He walked over to pour the drink into his cup as he heard the vending machine dispensing multiple snacks. Shuichi then brought the cup to his lips to take a sip of the bitter drink. He then heard the pitter patter of footsteps from the thief as he was running up to Shuichi, snacks in hand. Shuichi expected him to have some of the more snacky items but instead when he looked down he saw a whole bunch of candy and different kinds of sweets in his arms.

“I thought you said that you were hungry.” Shuichi said somewhat confused by why the thief had chosen lots of candy instead of the more snack-like items such as chips and such.

“Yeah! I basically live off of sugar and I was soooo disappointed when I got here and I realized that I didn’t bring any with me! And thus here we are!!!” He said ecstatically.

“That's not really healthy you know that right?”

“Pft! Hahaha! You're not my mom! Do you have the authority to tell me what to do Mr. Saihara? I don't think so!”

Shuichi rolled his eyes at this with a long sigh. “Let's go, I have to lock up the break room.” He said while motioning to the door.

“Whatever you say detective!” He said while skipping toward the door.

That comment completely contradicted what the thief had previously said but Shuichi decided not to dwell on it too much. They both walked to the door and Shuichi closed it behind them. Shuichi was walking a little bit behind the thief to make sure that he didn't cause any ruckus in the Future Foundation building but much to Shuichi’s surprise the thief was nonchalantly skipping down the hall with his load of candy in hand. As they were walking they passed the door to go up to the roof and the thief immediately stopped right in front of it. 

“Ah- my office is just right down the hall.” Shuichi said confused about the sudden stop of movement.

“I know! Buuuut it would be waaaay more fun if we sat on the roof! That seems to be our thing, don't you agree mister detective?” The thief questioned with a smile while trying to open the door.

Shuichi only smiled at this and helped to open the door for him as his hands were overflowing with treats. They walked up the stairs and were greeted with a small cold breeze. It was definitely nice to be outside after being stuck in the office for a few hours although, Shuichi was concerned about the workload that he had to complete but he chose to ignore it. He watched as the thief sat down in the corner by the raised rail. Shuichi then hesitantly walked to go sit with him. Shuichi then closed his eyes to take a sip of his coffee. The evening was truly a nice one to enjoy. The feeling of the fresh air coursing through his lungs gave the realization of a breath that was being held in. Shuichi didn't know that it was being held in but he had assumed that it was from the late start in the morning. He then heard a small plop next to him and turned to see the thief laying down on the hard concrete and he had pulled up the mask covering his identity slightly so that just his mouth was exposed. Shuichi began to observe the little bit of him that was shown. Although he had seen this part of him before, he was now closer and was able to see more. He took note about the shown features on his face such as how pale he was and how flushed his lips were. His skin also looked extremely smooth. It seemed that there was no possible way that any type of blemish could break through it. Shuichi watched intently as the thief popped a small grape flavored candy in his mouth. Shuichi didn't know what was so mesmerizing about it. Watching as his lips completely engulfed the sweet so easily it was just easy for Shuichi to watch.

“Y’know, it's rude to stare mister detective. Didn't I tell you that last time i caught you checking me out?” he said with a giggle 

“I- No I wasn't checking you out I was just investigating that's all” 

“Mmh, So that's what they call it now.” With that the thief turned to throw one of the small candies at Shuichi. It hit his chest and fell into his lap. It was a cherry flavored hard candy.

“These are sooooo good you're lucky that I'm sharing with you!” The thief smiled widely at this.

Shuichi let out a small laugh as well. “I've never really tried these ones before but apparently they are exclusive at some offices.”

“Whaaaaaaaat!!!! You're telling me that I can’t borrow some of these from the store!! Lame!!!” The thief exclaimed. While shooting up from laying down.

Shuichi just laughed at the fact the word “borrow” was brought up. He popped the cherry candy in his mouth and layed on the concrete of the roof along with the thief while glancing up at the night sky above them. No wonder Kaito was taking Maki to go stargazing, it was truly beautiful.

“Heeeeey! So now you’re going to ignore me! That’s quite rude of you mister detec-”

“Just lay down and look up.” Shuichi interrupted. He was surprised with himself that he even did that but he felt very confident within his words.

With a huff Shuichi heard a plop right next to him.

“So this is what your idiot friend was talking about?” The thief questioned.

“Yeah, it’s kinda his thing after all.” Shuichi replied.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s the ultimate astronaut”

Shuichi then heard an eruption of laughter from next to him. “Haha! That’s such a lame talent! If he’s this so-called “ultimate astronaut” then why isn't he in space?

Shuichi just laughed at this “ Well I should say ultimate astronaut in training. He’s working here at the moment just to get more income while he’s studying.”

“And what about the chick he was taking with him? What’s her talent?”

“Oh Maki? If I’m being completely honest I don't actually know.” Shuichi responded. It was true, Maki never really dwelled on talent. Shuichi didn't think that even Kaito knew about it either. But he knew that neither of them would ask her if she wasn't comfortable with sharing.

“That’s strange, why wouldn't someone share something as simple as that?” The thief said.

“I should be asking you the same question.” Shuichi stated clearly.

“Touch é . So what about that blonde chick, what's her talent?”

Shuichi had to think about what he said for a second. “Have you been watching me all day?!”

“Well duh, how else do you think I found out that you would be the only one in the office this late at night! I have to do my own investigating too you know!” The thief exclaimed while turning to look Shuichi directly in the eyes.

Shuichi just sighed at this. What did he expect? “Well if you must know, she's the ultimate pianist.”

“Wow!! Music is one of my favorite things! She's probably trying to serenade you with a sultry melody!”

“Pft- no way. We’re just friends and besides she has a boyfriend.” Shuichi replied. He understood why many people thought that him and Kaede were dating but both of them just weren't interested in each other like that. 

“Ohhh, that's a surprise then her boyfriend must be a total hunk if she didn't find you attractive.”

Shuichi caught on to the indirect complement but he chose not to make a big deal about it. “I- well i've actually never met the guy.”

“OH! Mystery! Let's solve it!”

Shuichi let out a little laugh from that. “I don't think so, that's their own information.”

“Lame!” He exclaimed while yet again popping another grape candy into his mouth.

They were laying there in silence for a few minutes gazing at the endless sky above them full of stars. The calm breeze keeps the air cool around them. As they were sitting in comfortable silence, their fingertips brushed each other for only a moment before they both pulled them away. What was left from that touch was a small buzz lingering on their fingers. For the brief moment that their fingers touched Shuichi could feel the heat radiating off of the thiefs own small hands. It was a comforting warmth but he brushed it off as nothing. Then the silence was broken as he heard a little ding. He looked over to see the blue light glaring off of the thief's mask from his phone. Shuichi saw his lips turn into a pout as he then pulled his mask down to cover his entire face again as he began to stand up.

“Well I hate to break it to you buuuut I had an awful time with you so I’m gonna dip!” he said while walking over to the balcony getting ready to jump off.

“That’s a lie isn't it?”

“So clever Mr. Saihara.” He replied while tossing another cherry candy at Shuichi with that he left into the night.

Shuichi sighed with a smile as he walked to the door to go back down from the roof. He made sure to lock the roof door so that the thief couldn’t get back in to bribe him with puppy eyes to get more snacks. Shuichi walked back into his office and looked at the clock. He still had about 45 minutes until he could go home. He sat down in his wheeled chair as the pile of mail caught his eye. He reached out to grab the stack and opened the one directly on top. 

“ _ Heeeey mister detective! So D.I.C.E and I have this suuuuper crazy plan to go borrow a realllly pretty gem from this huge castle next Wednesday! Y’know like from THE castle. It would be soooo fun if you were there to stop us ;p” _

The rest of the letters said the exact same thing but others had more exaggerated words than others. Some words were more drawn out while other letters had little drawings on the corners. Shuichi then saw that he missed something at the bottom corner of the very first letter.

“ _ See you at 10:16pm! :D” _

Shuichi smiled at the small note.

“Yeah, see you soon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, I haven't updated this for a hot minute but writers block came and smacked me in the back of the head. But I think that I will begin to write chapters long like this one so updates may take a while.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really excited to write this story! I have so many ideas for this and I'm happy to be finally executing them into this story! I will try to update this as much as I can and as often as I can!


End file.
